Dîyar Şivan Navîn
Dîyar Şivan Navîn, DNP (Soranî: ‏دیار شوان ناڤین Diyar Şiwan Navîn; Arabic: ‏ديار شون نفين) [pronounced Di-yar Shi-van Na-veen ''(Kurmanji/Northern Kurdish) or ''Di-yar Shwahn Nah-veen (Soranî/Central Kurdish)] is a hyena shifter of Kurdish origin. Biography Childhood Dîyar was born in the town of Halabja in Iraqi Kurdistan during the Al-Anfal Campaign, a genocidal campaign against the Kurdish population of Iraq as well as other non-Arab minorities by Saddam Hussein's Baathist regime in the late 1980s. Following the Halabja poison gas attack, his family fled the town. Apart from the 1991 uprsisings, in which several family friends and relatives were killed, most of his childhood was relatively peaceful, living by the traditional ways as a nomadic herder in the Kurdish mountains. As he grew up, his parents would tell him stories about their origin, of how they were descended from jinn who'd once served Sulaymān (Solomon). The physical incarnations of the shape shifting jinn were hyenas, therefore their descendants were born with the ability to assume the forms of the animals. According to some they were really hyenas in human form. As a child he would play football in the streets of the village in which they lived during the winters with his siblings and cousins, when he wasn't praying, working or studying. As he got older, he joined a local football team. When Dîyar was in his early teens the area he lived in fell under the control of the al-Qaeda connected terrorist group Ansar al-Islam. In the following days, he fell suddenly ill. Upon seeing his mother get beaten, the boy phased for the first time, tearing the attackers to shreds. His siblings followed not long after and together with their cousins they began guarding the area. At one point they encountered a demon feeding on the blood of the locals, but they managed to scare it off. It was around that time, as a young teenager, that Dîyar started finding himself attracted to other boys. Acceptance At first he was terrified, fearing that Allah would condemn him and that his own family would disown him or worse to maintain their honour. It took him several years and an attempted suicide before he came to accept that he was more interested in men than women. His parents had already known for some time though and loved their son regardless of it, believing that he would one day find his soulmate decreed by Allah and if it happened to be a man then it was Allah's will. He still kept it hidden in public as most of his community were far less open minded and saw homosexuality as unnatural and sinful. Coming out would have shamed his family and made them pariahs, as well as put him at risk of honour killing by his extended family. The Iraq War and Flight to Europe When the Americans came, Dîyar joined his fellow Kurds in celebrating and dancing in the streets. However, with death squads operating in Iraq killing LGBT individuals, the family were forced to flee the country in the following years. Thus Dîyar found himself in the UK, in a culture far different from his own, knowing that he could never return home as his extended family would lynch him if he ever set foot in Iraq again. For some seven years he lived in the UK, eventually applying for and obtaining citizenship along with his family. While most he met were nice and treated him with courtesy and respect, there were occasions when he was harassed, threatened, called a 'terrorist' and told to 'go home', at one point even physically assaulted. Move to America The young man choose to study to become a nurse, believeing it to be his duty as a Muslim to help and care for those in need as a service to them and to Allah. After finishing his studies he found out about the nursing shortage in the US, and after coming into contact with an American hospital, was offered a job. After getting the necessary papaerwork done and saying goodbye to his family, he moved to the remote, tiny community of La Push, Washingston, feeling uncomfortable in the town of Forks itself. Perhaps it was fate that brought him there, perhaps it was mere coincidence. Personality A self-proclaimed pacifist, Dîyar would never willingly harm someone unless it's a matter of life and death. That’s not to say that he won’t speak up for something he believes in. Discrimination and intolerance of any kind are things he feels strongly against, having grown up under oppression himself because of his ethnicity. He's very passionate about helping those in need, believing it to be his duty as a muslim. Dîyar can be friendly, kind, gentle, compassionate, dorky, playful and fun-loving with broad sense of humour, but also moody and antisocial at times. He treats people he meets with kindness regardless of their ethnicity, sexuality and beliefs. He's not comfortable with revealing his own sexual orientation, out of fear of being rejected. Due to his faith he abstains from drinking, smoking and other such harmful things. Memorable quotes Trivia